Kls flat car

Recommended Posts

After years of half finished LDD/MLCad designs, I finally managed to finish a MOC in ABS, my first one since my Tyrrell P34 a decade ago. And it's blue again!

The Kls is a type of flat car used by different railroad companies in different liveries. I based mine on those in use by Railpro. They are often used to transport stuff like sleepers and rail segments. I used a drawing found at the site of Railpro to design and build this in scale 1:45. Fun fact is that it's built upside-down entirely, except for the wheel sets.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

The texture was the main reason for me to use those brackets. It's the closest I could come up with to the original within this scale. Ideally I would use 1x1 brackets, but they are not (yet) available in blue.

I've made a small test track, and tried it behind my BNSF loc. When pulled, it did reasonably well. The only point where it derailed was at a switch placed directly after a corner. It didn't like to be pushed though. Also the buffers might cause issues, so they might need to be shortened. Next month I hope to give it the first proper test during an event.

There are 19 studs inbetween the axle holders.

8 hours ago, Roadmonkeytj said:

I think it's quite striking... How fragile is it?

Thank you. In general it's quite sturdy. I placed two 15L Technic beams under the car to reinforce it. The main issue are the tiles 1x3 on the sides, they tend to fall off. Maybe it's just something to keep in mind when picking it up. If they stay in place during that test next month then I'm fine with it.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

Are the axles fixed? What you describe reminds me of my famous 'seat-gondola'; it's ok when pulled but derails regularly when pushed.

Nice job by the way! Are you building some Fccppss next?

The axles can pivot a bit, they use turntables and are connected with rubber bands to the frame. Well, the car itself at least, there is not really any frame. Do you use 9V track? I do, and there's a notch at the connection points between track segments that might cause issues. Remembering an article in Railbricks the RC track shouldn't have this notch, and thus less issues. For LW we're going to use wider curves anyway, fortunately.

And thank you. Next up will be a locomotive, that is, after I'm sure this thing runs reliable. I have one of the Deutz used by Strukton in mind. I want to build a Fccpps at some point, and I just got the idea to remake the picture of your Fccpps, your gondola and your Railion 6400 with help of Raised and his 6400 haha.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

That is a great looking build, unique appearance but very realistic looking (well... I guess I'm not familiar with the prototype so I should say "realistic feel to it" but you get the idea). Excellent work.

On 3/13/2019 at 1:56 PM, Rijkvv said:

Fun fact is that it's built upside-down entirely, except for the wheel sets.

Aw come on, not up for the challenge of upside down wheel sets?

9 minutes ago, Rijkvv said:

The axles can pivot a bit, they use turntables and are connected with rubber bands to the frame. Well, the car itself at least, there is not really any frame. Do you use 9V track? I do, and there's a notch at the connection points between track segments that might cause issues. Remembering an article in Railbricks the RC track shouldn't have this notch, and thus less issues. For LW we're going to use wider curves anyway, fortunately.

There was a thread here about a year ago about making long two-axle cars, but I don't remember the title off the top of my head. Ultimately though, I don't think anyone has come up with a reliable way of having pivoting axles that will reliably tolerate being shoved. Fortunately, that situation is easily avoidable as long as you are not shunting.

The reinforcement on 9v track is definitely a problem for long wheelbases (even bogies) when going counter clockwise through a curve, but it should not be a problem going clockwise. There might still be a problem on PF track, but if there is, it is much less. Regardless, wide radius curves solve so many problems and they look so much better.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

There﻿ was a thread here about a year ago about making long two﻿-a﻿xle cars, but I don't remember the title off the top of my head. Ultimately though, I don't think anyone has come up with a reliable way of having pivoting axles that will reliably tolera﻿te ﻿being shoved. ﻿﻿

The thread in it’s entirety can be read here, including all the discussion and video links, but it is quite a long thread.

The executive summary is that you CAN make long wheelbase cars that work, even when being pushed, by having self-centring coupling magnets and free castering axles. You do need to restrict the amount of movement to prevent excessive steering, but I found that this technique is the most reliable method that results in the least number of derailments.

It’s funny that this topic should come up again now, as I’m in the early stages of testing a small update that deals with the problem of the last axle. More on that in a day or two.